History Main / TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon

*** ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'': Omega, the planet's last resort when all life on it is threatened.

** ''Trails of Cold Steel IV -the end of saga-'' has [[spoiler:the Tuatha Dé Danann, [[OminousFloatingCastle the "Phantasmal Mobile Fortress"]], the ultimate weapon created by the Gnomes for their war against the Witches, that disappeared in the space-time disruption caused by the clash between the two clans' Sept-Terrion. Now recovered and rebuilt by the Gnomes' descendants, the Black Workshop, it emerges above Osgiliath Basin, then moves to floating above the capital city of Hemidallr. Its appearance is accompanied by five duplicates of the mysterious "Salt Pale" that destroyed the country of North Ambria that emerge across the Erebonian Empire and sustain a barrier around it, necessitating the party to split up and destroy all of them just to get inside]].
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' has [[spoiler: Reverse Babel, the massive tower that houses the Elysion system and acts as the base for the Eighth Awakener, [[BigBad Ishmelga]]-[[RogueProtagonist Rean]] ]].

** [[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyI The original game]] has [[spoiler:Lost Shinjuku, whose existence provides the horrifying reveal that the characters are living in a post-apocalyptic world]]. ''[[VideoGameRemake The Millenium Girl]]'' has Claret Hollows. A stratum with suspiciously organic features located within the deepest insides of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, even below the ruins of [[spoiler:Lost Shinjuku]]. [[spoiler:The corruped core of Yggdrasil awaits at the center, serving as the FinalBoss.
** ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard'' has the Heavenly Keep, a regal castle located at the top of the Yggdrasil, and inhabited by the Overlord. ''[[VideoGameRemake The Fafnir Knight]]'' has Ginnungagap, an ancient temple located within a ravine of stone and where [[spoiler: the core of High Lagaard's Yggdrasil Labyrinth is sealed.]]

** The final chapter of ''VideoGame/Mother3'' takes your party to New Pork City. It's clear that there's no going back, since the overworld has been [[DoomedHometown completely abandoned]], and just about every NPC you've ever met is there with you. The final battle itself takes place deep underground, like in ''VideoGame/EarthBound''.

* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos:
** ''Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'':Cor Hydrae, the ancient castle of Malpercio currently floating in the middle of a dimensional rift. ** ''Baten Kaitos Origins'': Tarazed, a colossal machina construct powered by [[spoiler:captured afterlings]] and serving as both the new capital of TheEmpire and said empire's continent-shattering superweapon.

** [[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyI The original game]] has [[spoiler:Lost Shinjuku, whose existence provides the horrifying reveal that the characters are living in a post-apocalyptic world]].
** ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard'' has the Heavenly Keep, a regal castle located at the top of the Yggdrasil, and inhabited by the Overlord.

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}: The place where Basil is being help captive; [[spoiler:Black Space, a ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''-esque area with a nexus with multiple doors leading to several nightmarish areas- you must go through a little more than half of them to be able to reach the Church of Something and the game's endings. Unusually, you reach this area after fighting the standard FinalBoss, Humphrey. The TrueFinalBoss is fought at White Space, where [[WhereItAllBegan the game began]].]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' sets your final battle in Charlock, the home of the Dragonlord.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' has you battling Orgodemir in what was once the Crystal Palace.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has [[FluffyCloudHeaven the Realm of the Almighty,]] twisted into a hellish place by the BigBad.

* ''VideoGame/FZero GX'' has two of these. The second-to-last race in the storyline takes place inside a volcano, while the final race takes place on an ethereal virtual track that cycles through the colors of the rainbow.

** ''VideoGame/DoomII'': Icon of Sin, named after the FinalBoss. A giant lake of blood, a demon hundreds of feet tall, and a reverse shooting gallery with rows of monsters blasting away at ''you''.

** The base has the Nightmare of Mensis, a DreamWorld only available to enter after the blood moon rises. Essentially, it's a large castle-laboratory filled with nightmarish creatures, madmen cultists, and ''three'' [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]], one of them an infant that powers the entire dream dimension. [[spoiler:However, it's only the final ''area'' that is explored, the actual end of the game and true final boss is in the Hunter's Dream, the hub zone.]]

* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'' had Cor Hydrae, the ancient castle of Malpercio currently floating in the middle of a dimensional rift. The prequel, ''Baten Kaitos Origins'', has Tarazed, a colossal machina construct powered by [[spoiler:captured afterlings]] and serving as both the new capital of TheEmpire and said empire's continent-shattering superweapon.

** has the Nightmare of Mensis, a DreamWorld only available to enter after the blood moon rises. Essentially, it's a large castle-laboratory filled with nightmarish creatures, madmen cultists, and ''three'' [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]], one of them an infant that powers the entire dream dimension. [[spoiler:However, it's only the final ''area'' that is explored, the actual end of the game and true final boss is in the Hunter's Dream, the hub zone.]]

* ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'' has the Nightmare of Mensis, a DreamWorld only available to enter after the blood moon rises. Essentially, it's a large castle-laboratory filled with nightmarish creatures, madmen cultists, and ''three'' [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]], one of them an infant that powers the entire dream dimension. [[spoiler:However, it's only the final ''area'' that is explored, the actual end of the game and true final boss is in the Hunter's Dream, the hub zone.]]

* Very few real life war end in truly climactic stages, but the Battle of Berlin during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII might be as close as you can get: a deep offensive into the capital of Nazi Germany and the Third Reich's final stand, with massive amounts of soldiers and casualties for both the Soviets and the Nazis, and the result of the fight placed a definitive end to the war, drove Hitler and several of his officials to suicide and split Germany in half for over half a decade afterwards.

** ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseGrimsborough'' has the Airport district, where you arrive in the wake of [[spoiler:[[DaChief Chief King's]] suicide]] in order to uncover his motivations behind it, only to slowly learn about an AncientConspiracy that is responsible for everything wrong across the city and season, including the aforementioned [[spoiler:suicide.]]
** ''VideoGame/CriminalCasePacificBay'' has The Wastes, a radioactive wasteland at the edge of the city where the masterminds of the previous district (one of which includes [[spoiler:a former member of your team]]) have fled to escape justice, and it doesn't take long before an [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of the world scenario]] is thrown at you by the now-revealed BigBad.

** ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseTheConspiracy'' has Newmark, a futuristic district where the [[spoiler:now-fugitive members of [[CovertGroup Ad Astra]]]] have escaped right after revealing the existence of a TheManBehindTheMan, who is responsible TheConspiracy you've been trying to bring down during the entire season.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' has [[spoiler:[[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere Genesis Tower]], a tower with the ability to stop time created by the Seventh Octo-Genesis, where the heroes go to stop the Armata mafia syndicate, with [[BigBad Gerard Dantès]] at the very top]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'': Origin, the home of Ultima, the game's BigBad.

[[folder:Non-video game examples]]
* The UsefulNotes/SuperBowl, especially in modern times. Whereas the other major American sports leagues (the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} MLB]], and the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]]) have the teams play at each other's stadiums and arenas in a best-of-seven series, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] schedules the Super Bowl years in advance, ostensibly in order to prevent a team from playing the one-off championship game on their home turf.[[note]]It is theoretically possible for a team to do so, but until 2021 no team ever made it to the Super Bowl in a year when their stadium was hosting it. The 1979 Los Angeles Rams and the 1984 San Francisco 49ers both made it to the Super Bowl in years when it was held in their home cities, but both of those Super Bowls were scheduled for different stadiums (the Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium, respectively). This streak was finally broken in 2021, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reaching the Super Bowl played in their own Raymond James Stadium.[[/note]] Furthermore, they typically award it to the biggest, most modern, and most high-tech football stadiums in the country, often in a place like UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, or UsefulNotes/LosAngeles that is virtually guaranteed to have warm weather even in the dead of February.[[note]]Only six Super Bowls have been played in northern cities, and of those, only one was in a stadium that did not have a dome or a retractable roof, Super Bowl XLVIII at [=MetLife=] Stadium in UsefulNotes/NewJersey.[[/note]] This means that the two teams are facing off in one of America's biggest and fanciest sporting venues, one that was most likely built for exactly that purpose.
* For [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball the other football]] across the Atlantic, the Usefulnotes/UEFAChampionsLeague ends in a single game at a high-end stadium that is chosen years in advance. The South American version is the final of the UsefulNotes/CopaLibertadores (originally played in both stadiums of the respective finalists, but eventually changed to a grand single match in a neutral field).

* What the Super Bowl is to American Football, and Usefulnotes/TheWorldCup for [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball everyone else's football]], the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames is to most other sports, and sports as a whole. Host countries spend years building entire sports complexes and, often, entire ''towns'' from scratch to accommodate the ridiculously high-profile event. Afterward, since the locals can't possibly make sufficient use of all the enormous facilities, the area usually becomes a GhostCity.

* As far as college goes, the Capstone Project is this when it comes to classes. It takes your knowledge gained via your Bachelor's program, and puts it to the test in an actual real world scenario to prove that you earned that degree.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The 5th edition storyline ''TabletopGame/TyrannyOfDragons'' has the Well of Dragons, the VolcanoLair of the Cult of the Dragon. The place is defended by armies of evil mercenaries, giants, devils, and chromatic dragons, and the Temple of Tiamat, an eldritch castle that exists simultaneously within the Material Plane and the Nine Hells, stands in the volcano's caldera. It is here that the Cult's leaders are performing a grand SummoningRitual to bring the dragon goddess Tiamat into the Material Plane.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': Pandaemonium, The capital of hell which [[BigBad The Emperor]] has risien up to Palmecia after his death. The ''Soul of Rebirth'' questline has Arubboth, the castle of heaven, [[spoiler:which the Emperor's [[LightIsNotGood light half]] has taken over.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': The Nothern Cave, a complex cave system leading to TheLifestream.

** The ''Seekers of Adoulin'' expansion has the ancient ruins of Ra'Kaznar, where hades lies in its innermost sanctum.

** ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|I}}'': The [[NoobCave Chaos Shrine]], only this time it's but 2000 years in the past!

*** ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberusFinalFantasyVII'': Omega, the planet's last resort when all life on it is threatened.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': Pandaemonium, The capital of hell which [[BigBad The Emperor]] has risien up to Palmecia after his death. The ''Soul of Rebirth'' questline has Arubboth, the castle of heave [[spoiler:which the Emperor's [[LightIsNotGood light half]] has taken over.]]

** VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'': The Interdimensional Rift, composed of the pieces of the world destroyed by the Void.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' each expansion's main storyline has a climactic final dungeon to end on, with the FinalBoss usually being unlocked after the completion of the dungeon itself.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', sends you to what is essentially Hell and has you battling demon lords before storming the palace of Psaro the Manslayer and then climbing his mountain to do battle with him.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' The Fortress of Fear where the Lord of Shadow awaits is the final dungeon of Act 2. Act 3 (or the postgame, as it's some times called) has the Dark Star which houses the TrueFinalBoss, though it's less of a dungeon and more of an arena since the battle starts as soon as you enter it.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'': The Lunar Subterrane, a pathway leading down to the crystalline core of the moon]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'': The core of the True Moon, a massive spacecraft used by the [[BigBad Creator]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': Ultimecia castle, a giant floating fortress in compressed time.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'': [[spoiler:The Farplane, where Yuna, Rikku and Paine go to stop [[BigBad Shuyin]] from using [[MechanicalAbomination Vegnagun]] to destroy Spira.]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' gets special mention because of having ''several'' of these dungeons, all serving this role for their storylines. Such examples are the Shadowlord's Castle for the original storyline, [[spoiler:the floating Zilart city of Tu'Lia]] in ''Rise of The Zilart'', and [[spoiler:the Zilart ''Capital'' of Al'Taieu... in ''another dimension'']] in ''Chains of Promathia'', which also has the very last boss fight take place [[spoiler:''Above Vana'Diel!'']] Special mention to the final fight in the ''Treasures of Aht Urghan'' expansion where you fight [[spoiler:a newly summoned [[LightIsNotGood Alexander]] inside the giant shell of his previous summon.]] Although you don't have to fight your way there and you could enter the area before that, it is still kind of freaky.
** The VDFD for ''Wings of the Goddess'' has not been unveiled yet, though it seems it may be in the next story update. Players have been given glimpses of a fragmented town suspended in ethereal space with a massive maw in the "sky" over it. There is also the continuing hope that this expansion will finally grant players access to the Marquisette of Tavnazia, the city destroyed in the intro [=FMV=].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings'': A floating temple called the Womb of Feolthanos in outer space with a nice view to the planet below.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': Orphan's Cradle, a strange, shifting, "digitized" dimension that is the "cradle" for cocoon's power sorce.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': Academia in the year 500 AF, totally deserted and in the midst of being torn apart by chaotic energies. Might not be the most impressive, but certainly the most unnerving.
** ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'': Luxerion Cathedral, the seat of power for the [[KnightTemplar order of Salvation]] surrounded by chaos as the world gets destroyed. [[spoiler:After that, the FinalBoss Battle takes place in Cosmogensesis, the seat of the God of Light who watches over the creation of the new world.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': A dead city called the Necrohol of Mullonde, where Saint Ajora was burind and where Ultima can be ressurected.]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'': Ambervale, A royal palace in the throes of excessive reality warping.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'': Zellea, the Forbidden Land being torn apart by an interdimensional rift]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'': Mount Vellenge isolated far away from known civilization and right at the edge of the visible world, bearing the meteor which first brought miasma to the world. Then right when you are about to destroy the [[spoiler:Meteor Parasite]], [[spoiler:Raem]] intervenes and teleports you to an AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield called the [[spoiler:Nest of Memories]]. Interestingly, after [[spoiler:Raem]]'s defeat, you are returned to right where you left off -- dealing the finishing blow to [[spoiler:the Parasite.]]
** [[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy The throne of the god of destruction and disorder]]. Interestingly, the representative stages for each game are the final dungeons listed above, with the exception of I (the present day, wrecked shrine) and IV (the moon's ''surface'').